


The Soulscape

by VelvetSky



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Fluff, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-World War II Bucky Barnes, modern day reunion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-07-18 05:38:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,073
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16111964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VelvetSky/pseuds/VelvetSky
Summary: Soulmate AU where at age 18 everyone receives foggy memories of two years spent in The Soulscape. The Soulscape is arranged by The Fates. Most follow a certain way of working, but there are exceptions. Steve, Bucky, and Darcy find themselves being one of those odd exceptions to the norm.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Note: This world is much as we know the MCU world to be, but with aspects of Soulmates and The Fates layered on top.
> 
> A/N: I intend at least 3 more parts, but I’m still working on part 2. So I hope this doesn’t suck. I’ve never done Soulmate AU before. Hopefully, the other parts will get finished soon. But I wanted to get this in before September ended. And maybe it’ll help me feel more confident about the rest of it.
> 
> For Soulmate September, going off the prompt: At the age of (AGE), everyone goes into another world for two years, hanging out with their soulmate. Time is warped to make sure the two of you are (AGE) in this world. When the two years are up, you’re sent back into the real world, with fractured memories of what happened. These foggy memories make it hard to find them again.
> 
> Also thanks to @hkthauer for help naming the ‘Soulscape’. :)

There was some debate over if people really spent what amounted to two years in another place with their soulmate before being returned to their place of origin only moments after they left it, or if it was just some kind of fancy dream, but at the age of eighteen, everyone seemed to recall hazy memories of this time spent with their soulmate. It didn't always happen on one's birthday, but it was always after someone turned eighteen and before they reached nineteen. This other place was referred to as The Soulscape, it wasn't the same for everyone, it seemed to make itself into something interesting to the soulmates. Everyone appeared in their time with their soulmate as they did at eighteen years old, regardless of when they would actually meet their soulmate, or what kind of age difference might exist between soulmates. Most soulmates were at least born at the time the other had their memories of their time together, but not all, there were some instances of soulmates with large age differences, it was simply rare.

There were also instances of people having more than one soulmate, some were platonic, and a few only had a platonic soulmate. But most people's journeys to The Soulscape were one on one, even if they had more than one soulmate they would have two separate journeys. Since one's platonic soulmate might not be close with their romantic soulmate. And sometimes some people had more than one romantic soulmate, though that sometimes scared people, because sometimes that meant that one of them would die sooner and the other was the love found after the first died, though not always, which sometimes had complications of its own. Soulmates usually were meant to be forever, but there were some that didn't work out that way. Even though The Fates seemed to set things up nicely and could see a great deal of what life would hold for a person, there were sometimes twists that even The Fates couldn't see coming. Chaos planned nothing and alerted no one ahead of time, and that could throw people's paths off on a different course.

Everyone's recall of their experiences in The Soulscape varied a bit, much like people's recall of their dreams vary. Those who recalled more of their dreams seemed to better recall their time in The Soulscape, sometimes even recalling the name of their soulmate and bits of things they did together. The places described varied from locations that seemed like the real world, to things that sounded like something out of Alice in Wonderland or even stranger. The landscapes of some people's Soulscape even changed over the course of their time spent there. Sometimes recall of details about their time in The Soulscape grew over time, little things remembered at random times in their lives. Once the soulmates met, recall came in more significant ways to help the soulmates realize their connection. But full recall of the things they did together, conversations had, time shared in that world didn't happen until the soulmates connected in the real world in a meaningful way. For platonic soulmates, this was usually once they reached a level where they considered one another close friends and felt trust and affection for the other person. And for romantic soulmates, it was often in conjunction with close physical contact, sometimes the memories would flood back quickly for couples upon kissing or longing stares into one another's eyes.

For most of his youth Steve sort of expected that there would be no soulmate for him. The one girl who had kissed him when he was sixteen certainly didn't look thrilled to do so. Steve had been acutely aware the whole time that she'd only done it because her friend, who was dating Bucky, pushed her into doing it. It felt like pity, Steve didn't like pity. When Bucky turned eighteen though, only a few days after his birthday, he'd turned up at Steve's to recount everything he could recall from his time in The Soulscape which had come to him just hours earlier. The surprise was that he had two soulmates in his Soulscape, together. One was romantic and a woman, the other wasn't and was a guy, and he believed it was Steve. Even the notion that Bucky was a legitimate soulmate of any kind made Steve feel a little less alone. Like maybe he really would at least always have someone in his life who would care about him. He didn't assume that because there was a girl in Bucky's soulmate that he would have one. He figured perhaps Bucky was mingling what was really two separate Soulscapes into one in his fuzzy memories of them. More than two people in a single Soulscape was an odd occurrence.

It had been months since Steve turned eighteen, his mother had gotten ill and passed away, and the holiday season was upon them. The New York air was turning crisp and cold as November had arrived. Steve still hadn't had his Soulscape experience. He had been wondering with each passing day if maybe Bucky was wrong about him being his platonic soulmate. Steve was trying to clean up his apartment. It had taken him a couple of weeks to get around to going through his mother's things. There was clothing he certainly didn't have any use for anymore. One of the nurses his mother worked with, who lived a few blocks away, said she could use the clothing, she was about the same size Steve's mother had been. He said he'd get the stuff ready and drop it off by the end of the week. He was hoping he'd be able to keep up with the rent and everything else on his own. He didn't get as sick as often as he had as a child, but he still sometimes missed a week or so of work because of something. It had been okay before when he was simply providing extra income on top of what his mother made, he worried about it now. While gathering up some of his mother's things from her dresser, Steve felt the need to sit down a moment, and then he was standing on a nearly empty street.

It looked like a few blocks over, the only car was one he saw frequently parked near the corner store. It was a corner he often met Bucky on when they were going somewhere together. And he had his tie and coat on with his pants and button down. Steve turned to look down the street in the direction Bucky always came from and sure enough there was Bucky.

"I knew it. Didn't I tell you, punk? You always shook your head like you didn't believe. I've got proof now." Bucky had one of those broad grins on his face that lit up dance halls and anywhere else they went to. He was dressed casually, not especially different from Steve, just no tie, and his jacket looked a bit sharper.

"You know we probably won't remember most of this once we go back to the real world." Steve couldn't help laughing just a tiny bit though. This was technically Bucky from a year ago, a little more. Steve knew Bucky had in fact remembered that Steve was in his Soulscape when his had come to him shortly after he'd turned eighteen.

"I think I'll remember you're my soulmate." Bucky reached out and Steve welcomed the hug from his best friend. Bucky was thrilled to find his Soulscape had Steve in it. He'd always believed they were not only best friends, but something like brothers, family, something even beyond that. It seemed he'd been correct. Bucky was curious, of course, if he'd have another Soulscape with a girl who would be his romantic soulmate, but he didn't care that much about that at the moment. He was just happy. He knew that in the real world, he'd blink and the whole of his time here would have happened. But the word was, while here, one collected two years worth of time and memories in the Soulscape. So to him, it meant he got to spend two years just hanging out with Steve, and that sounded like one of the best things ever. "Which means, you'll probably remember too, because you've always had a sharp memory."

There were a lot of things about Steve that didn't work well, his hearing, his vision, his lungs, though he felt very good at the moment, he felt like he was seeing everything a little bit crisper than he usually did, and his breathing felt easier than even his good days. He was still small, but maybe the Soulscape didn't force people to endure all their ailments while there. His mind though, that had never had issues. "I won't mind remembering hanging out with you for two years."

Bucky smiled, about to say something when he saw a woman round the corner. "Whoa." Bucky tapped Steve's shoulder and nodded down the street when his friend gave him a strange look for his reaction.

When Steve looked, he understood what Bucky had said. "Wow." A gorgeous girl with dark hair and curves for days, wearing a weirdly sleeveless dress with a floral print was looking perhaps a bit lost.

"Hi. I'm guessing I just stumbled into the Soulscape. But there's two of you." Darcy had just gotten home to her dorm after going to an art exhibit on campus, a friend of hers had a piece in, and then she was standing on a sidewalk on an eerily quiet street that she could tell was a city that should have been much busier, especially in the evening time, and when she heard voices she headed toward them.

"Yeah. Hi, I'm Bucky." Bucky extended his hand and she shook it, more firmly than he'd expected from a woman. Most girls he met who shook hands did so rather gently. He kind of liked it, smiling a little bigger and a bit lopsided at her.

"Hi. I'm Darcy." She looked at Steve and smiled, offering her hand to him.

"Oh, uh, hi. I'm Steve." Instinctively he wiped his hands off before shaking her hand. He didn't get to shake a lot of hands, and none of them were women. Her hand was soft and felt nice in his hand, though her shake was firm, and she looked him right in the eyes.

"Hi." Darcy had been told somewhere along the way that a firm handshake was important. Not too firm, but not too soft either, so that was always what she aimed for, though she noticed they both seemed perhaps surprised by her actually fully clasping their hands for a moment for a solid shake. It was springtime for her, and the dress had been appropriate for an evening art show. But after shaking hands, her hands went to her bare arms.

"Here." Bucky pulled off his jacket and wrapped it over her shoulders.

Darcy turned her smile and gaze upon Bucky as she slipped her arms into the sleeves and cuddled into his jacket. "Thank you. It's a lot colder here than where I was in the real world."

"It was March for me, just after my birthday." Bucky smiled a moment at the way Darcy hugged herself in his jacket before he looked over at Steve. "Was it July?"

"No, November. I was starting to think I wasn't going to have a Soulscape of any kind." Steve shook his head and shrugged it off. He caught the look in Bucky's eyes, the one that saw right through him. But they were both too distracted for one of those long quiet moments where Bucky managed to make him feel better about himself and not alone.

"Is July your birthday?" Darcy felt like she was missing something in their silent exchange, like just how well they knew each other.

"Yeah." Steve nodded a little, his gaze focused on hers. This may have been the longest a woman had ever looked him in the eye for and it had his insides doing all kinds of tumbles.

"Cool. Mine's June, so not too far off then." Darcy smiled at Steve before glancing between him and Bucky. "I feel like you two kind of know each other already."

"We do. We've been best friends since we were kids." Bucky didn't specify that they met when he ran off a couple of bullies trying to beat Steve down outside their grade school. Instead he asked about the rest of what Darcy had said. "Is that when you were before coming here? June?"

"No, it was early May actually. I was really starting to think I wasn't going to have a Soulscape either. I'm a little over a month off of my nineteenth." Darcy's shoulders shrugged a bit heavily.

"Really?!" Steve was for a moment visibly shocked. He had somehow equated his wait for his Soulscape to his lacking desirability to the opposite sex. But if she'd had to wait until nearly her nineteenth, and he thought she seemed very desirable, maybe Soulscapes came to people simply when they were ready to. Maybe it had simply been that The Fates thought him getting his after his mother died was a better time for it than just before she got ill. Maybe there was something that had been happening in Darcy's life too that made May a better time.

"It sounds like it's very rare for someone to have no soulmate at all, but I figured if anyone was going to be the weird one who didn't get one, it probably would be me." Darcy half snickered as her gaze settled on the ground for a moment. She felt Bucky's hand softly rub her back and she lifted her eyes to smile softly at him. "Do you guys know where this is? Or what it's supposed to look like anyway. There's one old car over there, but it feels like a street that should have much more traffic."

"It's Brooklyn. It definitely should be busier. Even in the middle of the night, it's not usually this quiet." Bucky had noticed that right away. It had also been what made him guess it was his Soulscape, even before he spotted Steve.

"What makes you say that's an old car?" Steve knew the car was a model from just a couple years ago, and the man who owned the car and the building had bought the car just over a year and a half earlier, at least from when Steve's Soulscape began.

"Yeah, that car was just bought a couple months ago. At least in my memory." For Bucky, the car was a very new thing, sitting out on the street regularly since only a couple of months earlier to his memory. Word had gone around the neighborhood pretty quickly about the nice new car bought by the owner of the building it sat outside of.

Darcy had thought their style was a little retro, but some people liked an old school style. "How is that possible? To me, that is a very old car."

"Just how old?" Bucky had heard stories of soulmates who were fifteen and twenty years apart in age. Which meant the older person had their Soulscape about their soulmate, before that person was even born if it was more than an eighteen year gap. But he'd never considered if it would happen to him. It also sort of intrigued him though, the idea she could tell him something of the future.

"Very." Darcy's voice got soft as she glanced around at the streets and that car again. "I'm not even sure how it's possible. I've never heard of such a thing."

"My mother always said that sometimes The Fates have some strange plans in mind for us all. I guess we won't know for sure until we all meet. Just when are you from?" Steve wondered, it did explain the odd styling of her dress. Perhaps it was something that was popular and common in twenty years.

She glanced between the two of them a few times, wondering if she should even say. It felt like one of those things Science Fiction films warned against, disrupting the timeline. But then, if they were in the Soulscape, this must be something The Fates had arranged. Despite how weird it seemed, The Fates laid out the Soulscape. "When is that car from? Exactly?"

"1934." Bucky spoke soft and slow and stood close, rubbing his hand lightly against her back. He still saw worry in her eyes.

"Is this even possible? My present, where I'm 18, is 2006." The words were soft as she looked from Bucky to Steve.

"I don't know how it's possible, but it must be somehow." Steve didn't always believe he had a soulmate, but it seemed as though The Fates tended to get things right about who someone's soulmate was, and usually, with few exceptions, those people found one another. Those that didn't, at least realized who their soulmate was, and why they didn't meet, usually one died before they could meet in some strange accident. One of those acts of Chaos that even The Fates could not foretell. The surviving soulmate usually felt a pain and loss when the other died, and flashed briefly on their Soulscape memories.

"I hope The Fates didn't just cross some wires and I landed in your guys' Soulscape somehow." Darcy hugged herself a bit again, less from cold this time and more from worry.

"I don't think you did." Bucky sounded certain because he felt certain. From the moment he spotted her he'd felt something, something more than he'd felt looking at any other girl before. It had to mean something. And he saw the looks she'd traded with Steve, and he knew that had to be right. He knew Steve was an amazing person, but even though he'd tried, it seemed most girls just saw the skinny guy and didn't even bother to get to know him.

Steve had the same things running through his mind. No girl had ever smiled at him the way Darcy was smiling at him. No girl had looked him in the eyes like that. He didn't know what kind of twist of fate lie ahead of them, but there had to be one. "I don't think you did either. No girl has ever really even looked at me, at least not in a good way. But you keep smiling at me and looking me in the eye, and it feels like it has to be real."

"I hope you guys are right. Because I feel like this is right. That there is a connection with you both. Though I'm not sure how that sorts out either. But I hope The Fates have something good in store." Darcy stepped a little closer to them, her arms reaching out in a kind of offering.

Bucky recognized it immediately as an invitation to a hug and took it, pulling her close and resting his chin on her shoulder. He felt her press herself into him and hold onto his back tight, so he gave her a little extra squeeze. They held on for almost a full minute before releasing each other.

Darcy then turned her attention on Steve. He was standing just as he had when she'd made the motion before. She'd noticed he just stood watching them hug, so she wasn't sure if maybe he wasn't ready for contact. "Is it okay if I hug you?"

Steve was a bit stunned until Bucky gave him a nudge and Steve finally blurted something out. "Yes! Please."

Darcy smiled warm and soft as she stepped in and circled her arms around Steve, and felt him do the same to her. It felt different, but just as good, as hugging Bucky had. When he didn't release and kept holding her for more than a moment, she let herself nuzzle in a little and felt him sigh heavily when she did. She thought she even felt a little quiver go through his body. It made her try to hold him even closer.

Steve didn't get a lot of hugs in his life. His mother gave them sometimes, and he'd always loved when she did. He also sometimes got a hug from Bucky, and that too, he loved. Feeling Darcy hug him was more intense than he'd expected, and he never wanted it to end. His fingers played with the ends of her hair. The soft 'mmm' sound she made when he did it made him quiver again. It also made him want to keep touching her hair. Though he also just liked the feeling of her hair between his fingers. She kissed his cheek and pulled back just enough to look at him. Steve was ready to make himself let go of her if she wanted to be released, but she kept one arm around him and the other shifted to rest high on his chest near his shoulder, so he kept his arms around her.

"You're warm." She kissed the corner of his mouth and Steve sighed, with a look on his face that somehow looked both excited and blissful.

Bucky chuckled a little at his friend's expression. "Are you still a little cold? We should head somewhere indoors. It sort of looks like it'll be dark soon anyway, assuming the sun and days work the same in The Soulscape as in the real world. Steve's place is just a couple blocks from here."

Steve wasn't sure he wanted Darcy to see his crappy little apartment. It was one of the more run-down of the tenements, though at least unlike some of his neighbors, it was reasonably ventilated and wasn't too cold. Though during the summer it could get a bit uncomfortably warm.

Darcy felt Steve's muscles tense and her brows scrunched together with concern. "Is there somewhere else you'd rather go?"

"My place isn't a lot farther away, if that seems better." Bucky didn't see a lot of difference. They both lived in tenements. The one his family had was slightly bigger, but that mostly had to do with the fact it had been for six people instead of two, and the building was slightly newer, but even Steve's building had been adjusted to newer regulations about how many bathrooms it had to have per number of tenants.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been near a year in the Soulscape. Steve seemed to keep track of their time quite accurately, and they'd found that it seemed if they all thought about wanting to see someplace else when they woke up the next day, they'd be in that place. Something they realized early on and had spent much of their year in the Soulscape traveling to different places. Often they weren't even specific places, they would decide they wanted to spend a little time at a lake or beach and they would wake in a cabin or beach house. Sometimes they were the only souls around, sometimes they would see people moving about. If they entered a shop there would be someone to serve them. If the setting called for an atmosphere that involved other people about, they would find other people there, like the time Darcy wondered about what a real dancehall experience was after Bucky talked about it. Darcy wondered a bit if those were other people's Soulscapes crossing with their own, or if it was just randomly constructed people, as none were people she ever recalled seeing before.

Steve liked that when Darcy wasn't in heels, she was actually vaguely shorter than him. She seemed to make a point after he noticed and seemed amused to walk around in flats. He was a bit slow moving beyond cuddling and kissing at first, but after a month that happened too. He wondered sometimes if he'd return to the real world still feeling like a virgin no girl wanted, or if he'd be able to at least remember this sensation of being loved and wanted by this beautiful, funny, intelligent woman. He hoped he would remember that there was some girl out there, even if she was in some future he wasn't sure yet how he was getting to, but she was there and she loved him. He tried not to dwell on such things too much, but sometimes he couldn't help it. Bucky or Darcy caught him fairly often staring off while deep in thought.

Steve had been drawing Darcy, but while watching the breeze catch strands of her hair he'd drifted a bit. So much that he didn't even notice Bucky sitting down across from him with some sandwiches. "Mind wandering off mid-sketch?"

"A little, I suppose." Steve smirked a bit. Even around Bucky, he'd often tried to maintain his air of being able to handle anything on his own. That whatever was going on around him wasn't impacting him too deeply. But the past year in the Soulscape with just Bucky and Darcy, he had at least lowered his walls a little.

Darcy had been staring off a bit herself, watching some birds catching the offshore breeze and swooping around in the air. Almost like the surfers in the water. She again wondered if those surfers were actually people experiencing their own Soulscapes that brushed up against theirs, or if they were just part of the scenery of their Soulscape, like the trees or the buildings. The guys speaking drew her attention back. She glanced to see the beginnings of a close-up sketch of her face in profile, with strands of hair dancing around her face. "Wow! Are you drawing me again?"

"He's pretty much always drawing you when he's drawing. He's hoping that if he does it enough, he'll be able to remember what you look like once we return to the real world." Bucky spoke when Steve sort of just flushed.

Steve had been drawing Darcy for the past year everywhere, at every free chance. She only noticed it some of the time. Sometimes she was still sleeping, sometimes he would do more than one drawing and the one she saw was more of her in the landscape, or a side drawing he did of something else interesting like yesterday when she'd leaned over his shoulder while he was sketching the water and cliffs at the beach. They'd spent the past week in a little beach town. The coast was a bit rocky, but there were a couple stretches of sand. They were all enjoying the relaxed coastal vibes, and Steve was finding a few other things to toss into little sketches in between drawing Darcy.

"Really!?" She scooted in close to Steve, her eyes wide with a little sparkle to them.

"Well, yeah." Steve shrugged, he'd looked down when she scooted close, then looked up to catch her eyes. His deep breath betrayed the fact he was still shocked by the way Darcy looked at him. It was the same way she looked at Bucky. It didn't seem to matter that he wasn't tall or strong or handsome, like Bucky was. She had looked at him like that every day for nearly a year, and he still was taken by surprise. He wondered if that would ever stop being a surprise.

Darcy reached out and caressed Steve's cheek. When he leaned into the touch, her smile deepened and she leaned into him. He closed the remaining distance and their lips rolled slowly together, but pressed firm. She found she got sucked into both of them rather quickly and easily and once she was close to Steve or Bucky, or both of them, she had trouble wanting to pull away. The kisses often lingered until at least one person needed to come up for air. This kiss was no exception.

Steve cracked one eye open as he kissed Darcy to see Bucky watching them. Bucky gave him a wink and grinned. They didn't have any jealousy when the other guy was having a moment to have Darcy to himself. Perhaps Steve did wistfully watch Bucky be able to do a few things with Darcy that Steve wasn't capable of, like lifting her up, holding or spinning her around or letting her sit or lay on him. Steve wanted to, he just wasn't able. But she still cuddled up to him as close and tight as possible, and he loved when he'd lay on his back and she half draped herself over him, or leaning back and having her sit between his legs and lean back into him. Bucky's grin made Steve grin even in the kiss.

Darcy tried to take Steve's bottom lip with her as she pulled back, catching the smile in both their eyes as her eyelids fluttered open. "I still feel like I'm missing unsaid things with the two of you, but I do think I'm getting better at noticing when I do."

They all chuckled a little. Steve didn't want her to think they were thinking anything other than amazing things about her when they traded glances. "It's never bad."

"I know. It's cute." Darcy wasn't bothered by it, she just found it amusing. And in certain situations, like in the bedroom, they'd be on their own page together, and she didn't always know what was coming next, and with two of them, she couldn't always see it coming either. But she wasn't complaining about that. She wondered if they were like that even in the real world. It didn't seem like they found it odd or new, so maybe they really were that in sync with each other. "It's also kind of amazing. I don't know if I'll ever have that level with you guys, which is okay. I'm just a little in awe of it."

"Everyone eat and we can try to awe you a little more after. And maybe Steve can finish that drawing. Because if anyone is going to be able to remember details from this place, it's probably him." Bucky was pretty sharp, but he always felt like Steve's mind worked a little higher than his did.

Steve kind of disagreed, he thought Bucky had all the intelligence, and talent, and thoughtfulness he had, and then some and that wasn't even including the fact that Bucky was also physically strong and handsome. He shook his head a little, his gaze fixed on Bucky for a moment. "I hope between the two of us, we can manage to recall enough to sketch you in our real world. I don't want to forget your face."

Darcy leaned in for a quick kiss. She had gotten the occasional brief one on one moments with each of them, enough to realize they both underestimated themselves, and greatly admired each other. She thought they were pretty equally amazing men, she didn't quite understand how she'd gotten them as soulmates. Even disregarding the weird situation of how they got each other given the timing of their real worlds, she still wasn't sure she was worthy of either of them, but she certainly had fallen easily in love with them both. Whenever they said sweet things to her, she couldn't seem to resist the need to kiss them, and show them how much she loved them, and loved that they seemed to see something amazing in her. "I still feel like your names are familiar, but I still can't figure out why. I wish the Soulscape wasn't so mysterious."

"It is kind of weird and frustrating that we get to spend all this time, make all these memories, but don't get to really remember them when we go back. It is a strange system." Bucky had always thought it a weird system The Fates had set up, but it was the way it was. He wasn't sure how his or Steve's names could seem familiar to Darcy, but maybe it had something to do with how they got a girl from the future as their soulmate. He wondered about that from time to time. "I do wonder though, cause I thought memories were only fuzzy once you go back."

Darcy had pondered the familiar sensation around their full names, something they said they didn't have with hers, so it seemed like it wasn't a Soulmate thing. But why then? She wondered if she'd ever know, given how fuzzy recall of the Soulscape was. She figured she wouldn't recall when she returned to the real world, most didn't remember their Soulmates names, thus she wouldn't be able to look them up and see if there was some historical reason for their names feeling familiar to her. She reached out for the sandwich Bucky had brought for her and decided to try to quiet her pondering mind with some lunch.

Steve had pondered that himself, ever since Darcy mentioned it their second day in the Soulscape, when they'd gotten around to sharing their full names and not just their first names, or nickname in Bucky's case. Bucky was almost done with half his sandwich, and Darcy had gotten a few bites into hers, while Steve was still sitting, looking from the beginnings of his sketch, to Darcy, then Bucky, and back around, before glancing at his sandwich. He supposed he should eat. While they weren't sure if the Soulscape was truly a real place or a strange shared dream, in any case, they all seemed to get hungry as regularly as they would have in the real world. So even though he didn't have to deal with spotty hearing, or asthma here, he did get hungry if he didn't eat for a while. "Seems like The Fates feel the need to make us earn our way to our soulmates."


	3. Chapter 3

Darcy woke in the middle of the night. They only had a little time left in The Soulscape. By Steve's account, likely only a week or two left, they weren't sure if it was exactly two years they got, or roundabout. They also didn't know if there would be some kind of warning so they could say goodbye, or if they'd simply go to bed and then be back in the real world. No one really ever explained how that worked. It had been on all their minds the past few weeks. It had them all hanging a little closer. Darcy wasn't especially surprised to see Bucky sitting up, legs slung over the side of the bed.

When they still had all the time in the world in The Soulscape, or so it felt earlier on, Bucky would sometimes wake and go sit outside for a bit, or lounge in the other room so he didn't wake Steve and Darcy. But the last few weeks, as the time got shorter, he didn't want to be that far from them, Darcy especially. He knew when he found himself back in the real world he'd see Steve fairly soon thereafter. Steve told him that he'd gone over to Steve's to tell him about having his Soulscape just hours after it happened. But they had no idea when they'd see Darcy again. He inhaled deep as he felt Darcy's hand brush softly up his back. Glancing over his shoulder with a slight smile.

Darcy sat up as her hand ran further up Bucky's back. Smiling back at him, she leaned to press a soft kiss to his shoulder blade before whispering close to his ear. "What are you thinking about?"

"The usual. What happens when the Soulscape comes to an end. How long it'll be before I get to see you again. How that even happens." Bucky shifted his arm, trying to get it around her so he could pull her in closer.

She moved a little, wrapping her legs around his waist from one side as he held her close to his side. He leaned in to kiss her softly before she spoke. "I know. I'm going to miss you guys so much."

"I love you. Steve does too, so much." Bucky glanced a moment, across the bed, at his sleeping friend. "I can only hope that it's not going to feel like forever before we somehow end up in the same place. Though every twist of fate I can think of that could bring us together seems like something out of a science fiction story. And I've read a lot of those."

"I will say, there's a lot of things that are common place in my world that were the stuff of science fiction only thirty years earlier. Even from the time I was born to the time I came from, technology seems like it's advanced a lot. I'm not sure what could be responsible for us coming together, but it doesn't mean it's terribly far off from my present time. I'm just not sure how it gets to you guys. I keep wondering if I somehow end up back in time, or if you guys come forward, or how it works." Darcy shook her head. It was one of those things they'd all probably thought about from time to time while in the Soulscape, at least she knew it had crossed her mind from time to time. But they hadn't really talked about it. She had mentally set it aside many times because she didn't want to dwell or worry about it and take up time she wanted to spend enjoying being with them.

Bucky had inquired sometimes about what technology was like in Darcy's time, but other than that, they all kind of stayed away from the question of how their being soulmates worked. None of them had known of a case of The Fates making such an error, so they all chose to believe that The Fates knew something strange was in their future, they'd just have to see what. But he still worried sometimes. "I wish I at least knew how. I feel like I could deal with not knowing the when, if I just knew how. I hope I'm not old by the time I get to you though."

"I'll take you guys however I can get you." It felt honest to her, as her arms and legs tried to squeeze Bucky tight. She hoped they'd all have a lot of time in the real world together.

Steve stirred, hearing just a bit of what was being said. He had been thinking about the same things. "Glad I'm not the only one who has been thinking about how this ends up working out." He wanted The Fates to know what they were doing, and to give them time. But he did know that his parents were soulmates, and his father had died in the war, around the same time Steve was born. He'd never known his father as a result. He didn't know if that was something The Fates knew about, or one of those acts of Chaos, but either way, it made him worry about if they would really get the chance to be happy together. Steve didn't share that though. He didn't want to bring Darcy or Bucky down. He could tell they were both clinging to hopes, hopes he shared. He just also worried those hopes could be to out of reach.

Bucky and Darcy shifted back toward the middle of the bed after Steve spoke. Darcy reached for him and he readily moved in to kiss her. She had become so comfortable in this place, in the lovely little bubble that was just her and Steve and Bucky. She had never felt so secure and loved before, and the idea of going back to her life without that made her sad. She hoped she wouldn't be waiting a long time before she found them in the real world, but the only means she could think of for how they all wound up together also involved some science fiction like methods. The thought managed to fade from her mind as Steve's lips lingered on hers.

Bucky had scooted in close and when Steve pulled back from Darcy's lips, it was almost like a hand off, shifting her head so Bucky's lips could take over more or less where Steve's left off. She got in one breath before her lips were moving with Bucky's. He knew that and paced accordingly, letting his lips slide soft and slow on hers, giving her the chance to breathe a little more before his tongue teased her lips and the kiss went deeper. Meanwhile, Steve's lips brushed down her neck and over her collarbone. Her hands were fond of just sinking into their hair in moments like this where the sensations in her body started moving a little faster than she could keep up with.

When she pulled back to catch her breath, her fingers got a chance to move a little more. Raking through their hair and brushing along jaws. Steve loved that feeling. Her fingers in his hair and on his skin, it was like nothing else. The thought that in a matter of a week or so, he wouldn't have that anymore, had his arms sliding around her and his face nuzzling into her neck. He heard her hum softly and both her hands were on him. The one in his hair was joined for a moment before the other slid down his back.

Bucky didn't question Steve's action. He wasn't certain, but he had a feeling he knew why, and he shared the feeling. He tried to curl himself around Darcy, without disrupting her and Steve. When he inhaled deep, he felt them both do the same. The room was warm, but Bucky shuddered a little anyway. Trying to pull a little closer, one hand getting to Steve's back as they sort of sandwiched Darcy between them. Certainly not the first time, but they were all feeling it might be one of the last times they could all feel connected to each other until they didn't know when. The soft 'mmm' sound she made as they both buried their noses in her hair. Wanting to drink in the scent of her hair. They all seemed to try to press closer to one another, no one willing, or wanting to let go any time soon.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait between. There will be one more chapter after this, still working on it. Thank you all for reading! :)

Steve and Bucky didn't remember as much as they would have hoped from their Soulscape. They recalled their girl had dark hair, soft lips, great curves, a sense of humor, and was very smart. But it wasn't enough to sketch. Steve did try a couple of times, hoping that somehow sense memory would kick in and he'd get an actual image of her, but that didn't work. The recall was so thin, he'd actually been fairly convinced that Peggy could be his soulmate until Bucky and Peggy actually met. Not that they disliked each other, but Peggy didn't appear at all drawn to Bucky, and Peggy said she definitely only had one person in her Soulscape, even if she couldn't recall the details of him very well. It left the guys wondering just what was to come, they recalled nothing of when their soulmate was from either, so when Bucky fell from that train, Steve was convinced Chaos had struck and all hope was lost. He wouldn't begin to consider that the whole thing was a huge twist of fate that The Fates had seen coming a mile away until sometime after he'd woken up in a whole new century, specifically after he realized Bucky wasn't dead.

Darcy had recalled two guys in her Soulscape, but their names escaped her, and she only recalled general descriptions about them for the most part and that she felt a dull aching inside that she missed them. The most specific things she could recall were that one of them liked Science Fiction and the other was into art, and that the two guys knew each other well. She never met anyone in college who even made her wonder if they were one of her soulmates. It seemed several friends started finding theirs as she made her way through her major and onto an internship. There was a bit of doubt that started to creep up on Darcy, wondering if she was remembering something real or not, or if Chaos had managed to throw her onto some kind of path that had no soulmate. Especially after Jane told her that she'd never had a Soulscape, but when she looked at Thor, it was like an instant connection. Darcy wondered if The Fates could only see Soulmates if they existed on Planet Earth within a certain time of one another, so a god from another world was beyond The Fate's vision. Or that they didn't foresee Thor's arrival on Earth and so they didn't hand out that connection until Chaos tossed it in their laps. And if Thor's arrival was Chaos at work, then who knew where that might have put Darcy's life. It would be a few years before Darcy would find that it would actually put her in the perfect place to find her Soulmates.

Following Steve taking down Shield, and the core of Hydra that had been growing within it, he found and brought Bucky back. It had taken some time and help, but the Winter Soldier programing was gone, and Bucky was figuring out who he was after all of that. They were settling in at the Avengers Compound around the same time that Jane had accepted an offer to work from there, something Thor had rather liked the idea of. Stark offered up enough financial backing and other resources to aid Jane's research that she really couldn't say no. And Darcy actually got a paycheck too.

For many soulmates, they could cross paths several times without realizing it. There were stories of those who were neighbors or classmates or things like that for several years but never interacted on any deeper level and it wasn't until engaging in real conversation or working together on something that they felt a connection. The moment Darcy passed Steve and Bucky in the hallway, they all stopped dead in their tracks and turned to stare at each other. There was something that pulled them right in on sight.

Steve and Bucky had been headed outside to get some air and a bit of a workout when both their heads turned as a little brunette looked up as she passed them. Steve and Bucky hadn't talked much about their soulmate or any of that, there were too many other complicated things going on to worry much about it. They were just happy to have each other and The Avengers. But just one glance at each other told them they were both having the same feeling looking at this woman in the hall.

Darcy had been only paying enough attention to walking to not walk into anything as she sent some results from some data analysis off to Jane and Erik. They were both off site doing field research into one of their theories and Darcy was at the Compound collating their results. The upside was not being stuck in the lab all day, the downside was getting constant texts and calls when they were waiting on information from her. Once the data was sent she was free for hopefully the next day or two, based on Jane and Erik's schedules. She'd hit send and looked up to see the two men she was passing in the hall and she turned right around and couldn't stop staring. It felt like something had grabbed onto her heart and wouldn't let go. "Hi."

"Hi. I'm Steve." After a deep inhale, he managed to suck up the nerve to open his mouth. It wasn't exactly dazzling, but at least it wasn't a tangled mess either. And he thrust his hand out in offering.

Darcy had glanced between them a couple times before Steve spoke and her gaze settled on him. Her lips pulled up a little more and she reached for his hand to shake. "I'm Darcy."

The sensation when they made contact was like that of being hit with a wave from the ocean, and they both got a brief flash of a moment they had in the Soulscape. It was little more than a snapshot and it's accompanying sensations and feelings, but it seemed all the confirmation they needed. Steve couldn't seem to let go of her hand or her eyes. Maybe he hadn't bothered to think much of his Soulscape or if there was a woman out there still for him since he'd woken up from the ice, but upon seeing her, it felt like he'd been waiting lifetimes to find her. "Finally."

"You're a lot bigger than you used to be." Darcy finally broke eye contact as her stare swept down and back up Steve, finding his eyes again after.

Steve chuckled and noticed Bucky smirk a little out of the corner of his eye. "I am." His gaze snapped back exclusively to her though when she swayed a little closer, their hands still holding onto each other.

"You were the artist." Darcy then looked over at Bucky. "So you were the one into Science and Science Fiction."

Bucky would have been lying if he said the sensation when she first passed them hadn't made him a bit nervous. It felt foreign and uncontrolled. He'd been thankfully in control of how he felt ever since breaking free of Hydra, but he always worried. But watching Steve and Darcy make the connection, he made it along with them, without the wave sensation or the flash, and he was feeling less worried about feeling something he didn't have control over. He didn't recall a whole lot about his Soulscape, but he knew he'd had one, that Steve had been there along with a beautiful girl. Like Steve, he'd just figured he'd never find that girl, that maybe she was lost to time anyway. But her mentioning what she recalled of him, made him remember how he always associated her with the future and futuristic things, even though he'd never actually recalled the detail about her being from the future. "I was. And you were from the future. That sensation I used to have about you makes sense now."

"Sensation?" Darcy smiled softly, watching Bucky, though her hand remained in Steve's for the moment.

"Whenever I thought about the Soulscape and what I could recall of you, I also thought about the future. And likewise, thinking about the future and futuristic things made me think of you and the Soulscape. That association makes sense now." Bucky scratched his head a little, hoping that made sense. It wasn't just that, of course, meeting and being with his soulmate was something that would happen five or ten years down the road from when he was young, it was this futuristic, Science Fiction kind of sensation.

Darcy smiled at Steve before pulling her hand back and offering it to Bucky. "Memory from the Soulscape certainly is fuzzy, but it's funny what little things hang in the memory."

When Bucky grasped her hand, the wave hit him, and her again too. A flash of a moment together in the Soulscape. It almost knocked Bucky off his feet. Steve actually had to grab his arm and steady him, and Darcy reached out her other hand to hold his side. "Whoa."

"I wasn't so sure Chaos hadn't tossed me so far off the path The Fates had seen that I'd ever find my soulmates. But I did think about you guys." Though she'd questioned if she'd ever find them, she never forgot about them.

"If I'm honest, I'd stopped thinking about it when I woke up in the twenty-first century. But I'm happy to be reminded." Steve spoke slow and soft, he wished now that he could say he'd thought more of her over the years, but he'd simply let the whole notion fade from his consciousness.

"Same, I haven't thought much of it since getting to think for myself again, but I am very happy to have just run into you. And I'd be happy for thoughts of you to just take over my mind." Bucky really wished he could have had her in his mind all these years, but his head had been scrambled so many times, he was still piecing the fragments of his past memories back together. Just having her hand in his felt soothing as his thumb brushed against the back of her hand and he felt her softly squeeze his in return.

"Given what you two have been through, and I'm sure I don't even know the half of it, that's probably to be expected. And if this is still a bad time, I understand." She wanted to sit down and learn more about them, connect with them, find out if more of their memories of the Soulscape might return if they all spent time together. But Darcy didn't want to be some kind of obligation given how crazy their lives were. And she did figure there was probably a lot she didn't know about what they'd experienced. She really only knew the bare bones facts that had circulated to the general public. She glanced at Bucky and stepped a little closer as he ever so gently pulled her hand closer to his body.

"I think we'd both like to get to know you. Maybe we can just feel this out together?" Steve didn't want to walk away. Now that he'd bumped into her, the feeling of her was flooding his body.

"That would be nice, I'd like that. Whenever you guys are free then, we could have lunch, or dinner, or whatever works for you." Darcy glanced between them. Bucky was quiet, but his gaze had been mostly hanging on her, aside from a few quick glances at Steve. She got the feeling they were communicating in looks with each other. And he still hadn't released her hand. She was in no rush for him to give it back though.

"We're free right now. We could walk around, or our room is just down the hall. We have food and we could sit down and talk." Steve shifted, feeling the nerves tickling every inch of his body. Back in the day, Bucky would have been so much better at this conversation, but he was too unsure of his words now, so Steve had taken up the task. Given how easily Bucky was taking to holding her hand, he hoped he wouldn't be carrying the conversation for long, especially if they could sit down somewhere private, like their room. The Avengers were family, but they could be a nosy family at times.

Bucky just nodded after Steve spoke, he still wasn't sure how to proceed, so he was leaving it to Steve to do the talking. He'd been doing okay, getting settled here, meeting Steve's fellow Avengers, things like that, but talking to his soulmate felt a bit more daunting. He didn't want to mess it up. He loved that she had not only not pulled her hand back, she'd shifted closer to him because of it, but he was still nervous about saying the wrong thing. Each time he started to feel conscious for a moment about holding onto her hand, he caught Darcy's eyes and the way she smiled softly at him set Bucky at ease.

Darcy's smile deepened. "Sure, that sounds good. If you guys are okay with me hanging out in your room, I'm okay with it. And food sounds good." It wasn't that she didn't feel nervous, she did. But she also felt the connection already, she wanted more hints and flashes of her time with them, and that would only come from being near them.

While Steve shifted to move, Bucky just looked down at his hand still curled around Darcy's. When his gaze caught hers, he was ready to have to let go, but she just exchanged hands, slipping her left hand into his before pulling her right away so it was easier to walk and hold hands.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry again for such a wait. But it is finally finished, and I hope everyone who's read it likes the ending. :) 
> 
> Unbetaed, all mess is my own.

The walk to their room was quick. Steve and Bucky shared a two bedroom apartment in the Compound, much nicer than the little studio with two windows that Darcy had. But then being Captain America probably had perks that being the assistant to a scientist simply would never have. Jane and Thor's room was like this also, roomy, lots of natural light, walls that separated the place into rooms.

Steve brought over water and some snacks for everyone while Bucky and Darcy sat down on the couch. Bucky still hadn't let go of her hand, which had actually put a big stupid looking smile on Steve's face. He was glad that Bucky was attaching so quickly because Steve wanted to attach to her that fast too, but he hadn't wanted to go faster than Bucky was ready to. Bucky had been trying but was decidedly a little cautious about getting close to the others at the Compound.

“What is it you do at the Compound?” Steve hadn't seen her before, nor heard her name. He didn't know how long she had even been there. The Compound actually had quite the staff beyond just the Avengers, and he thought he knew who most of them were, so an unfamiliar name and face was interesting anyway, the fact that that name and face were that of his soulmate made him all the more interested to know about her.

"Oh, I'm just an assistant to Jane Foster and Erik Selvig." Not that she didn't think she wasn't important to helping their work, she did a lot to keep them on track, especially Jane, but Erik sometimes needed a little wrangling at times as well. She simply wasn't some genius scientist or superhero or spy or highly trained soldier or any of those other amazing things that most of the people floating around the compound were.

"So you're a scientist." Steve knew who Jane was, he'd met her briefly a few days ago when he ran into her and Thor, and Erik had been involved in the whole Tesseract thing and the Battle of New York.

"Not really, not that kind of scientist anyway. I studied Political Science in college. But I was in desperate need of internship credits, so much that it didn't even matter anymore if they were related to my major, and I was the only one who answered Jane's ad for an intern, I guess. It just kind of happened, and then Thor crashes to Earth in New Mexico and life is never the same again." Darcy chuckled as she finished that statement.

“What made you stay with Jane?” Bucky spoke softly, but he was very curious what made her disregard whatever plans she may have had to follow Jane in her work. His fingers somewhat aimlessly playing with hers.

“After everything, it was too crazy to not keep following, and Jane became my friend and I also couldn't abandon her when she needed help and support. She doesn't have the biggest circle of people.” Darcy shrugged a bit and smiled, enjoying the sensation of Bucky’s fingers. Her fingers played in kind, the contact was slightly intoxicating. “And it's finally paying off in the form of actual pay.”

Steve’s hand reached for her other hand, smiling when her fingers quickly closed around his. “We can definitely appreciate loyal friends.”

Darcy leaned her head to Steve’s shoulder for a moment and sighed at the feeling of the soft press of his lips to her temple. It was almost weird how at ease she felt with them. She supposed that was the magic of the soulmate and their time spent in the Soulscape. They hadn't really just met. They had spent two years together, they simply didn't remember all of it just yet. That didn't stop the familiar, safe feeling she had cuddled in between them.

"Do you live here at the compound?" Steve knew that some of the support staff chose to live off-site in the surrounding communities, and the pay for any position there was enough for that to be possible. But many, especially those who didn't have families or other commitments, chose to live on site since it was less cost on living expenses.

"I do. I got a cool little studio apartment, not nearly as nice as this, but it's still nicer than the camper Jane and I lived in for nearly two years before we followed Erik to England." Darcy's studio might not have been much, but she had no complaints about it either.

Bucky was fighting internally with his desire to simply wrap himself around her and not let go. He didn't think that would be appropriate, but it didn't mean he didn't want to do it. Holding her hand would have to do for the time being. He had let his other hand, the metal one, rest over the back of her hand though. Sometimes he had internal fights with himself about how he felt about that arm, but it was attached to him, it did allow him to feel and do two-handed things. Wanting to wrap himself around her, he wasn't against using every limb, even the metal one to do that. His nose nuzzled into her hair just above her ear, he couldn't seem to stop himself from doing that. When he felt her sigh softly and squeeze his hand, he didn't rush to lean out of her space.

Darcy didn't desire any personal space with either of them, but she didn't want to rush anyone, but as long as they were nuzzling into her, she didn't want them to stop.

Bucky pulled back a little when he started to speak, though his voice was still soft and low. “I hadn’t thought about what it would be like to find you again, but now I don’t want to think about life without you. I don’t know if that seems weird or if that’s just what it is to be romantic soulmates. It does seem like a bit more intense than when I saw Steve again. But I don’t know if that also had to do with how scrambled my head was at the time.” Bucky shook his head after wondering if any of what he’d said made any sense.

Darcy's head turned slightly to really look at Bucky when he spoke, and as he did her smile grew bigger. “I feel the same.” She leaned in slow and lightly brushed her lips over his cheek.

Steve smiled at Bucky when he spoke too. He didn't disagree either, there was a weird little extra something when he laid eyes on Darcy. He figured it had to be the difference between romantic and platonic soulmates. "I have to agree with that too." He pressed another kiss to her forehead, and the three of them seemed to sigh in unison.

Another wave of memories hit, Darcy saw and felt them all laying on beaches and cuddling in bed. When she looked at Steve and Bucky it was clear they'd felt it too.

"Well, that's a sensation. Do memories really come back that fast when soulmates meet?" Bucky had never been too clear on how the whole thing worked, though he wasn't clear now on how clear it was then. There were memories from his youth that had assembled themselves much more clearly than others. How soulmates were supposed to work was not one he recalled clearly, other than a sensation that he didn't think he'd been sure of it then.

"I don't know that they do. I was always lead to believe growing up that it depended on how well you got to know the person how close you grew. The more time spent together the more memories drifted back." Darcy shrugged, she never felt like she had a solid grasp on the soulmates thing. Just what everyone 'said' the soulmate experience was supposed to be, but often the people saying those things were people who hadn't even found their own soulmates.

"That's what my mother always said." Steve had nodded with what Darcy said. "Maybe we are connecting quickly. Maybe the Fates figured after everything else, giving us an extra flash sooner would be helpful?"

"The Fates, too, seem to work in strange ways sometimes. I wish I could remember what my mother said about soulmates. I remember her and my dad were soulmates, and I think they told stories sometimes. But I don't recall those stories now." Bucky shook his head, his metal palm pressed to his forehead for a moment.

"Everything I heard always felt so much like hearsay. My parents were not soulmates. I think they initially mistook each other for such, and by the time they realized they really weren't, they were in a relationship. I know some people will break up when they know it's not their soulmate, but some people try it anyway, which is what my parents did. Not that it worked out." Darcy had grown up knowing her parents had never been soulmates. Their relationship was already crumbling by the time she was school-aged. It didn't give her a lot of solid information about how the soulmate or Soulscape process worked.

"A few people tried that back when too. I don't know if some of them worked out anyway though." Steve recalled some people disregarding the soulmates notion, making life and love with whoever they felt something with. Maybe there were people who were almost soulmates. He wondered that at times about Peggy. There had been a connection, without a doubt, but as The Fates would have it, it wasn't to be.

"Maybe we did get fast-tracked. It seems like everything about us as soulmates is not how it usually works. But it seems like maybe the basics still apply. The more time we're together and connecting, the more we will remember." Bucky had squeezed her hand when she talked about her parents, even though she seemed like she wasn't too bothered by her parents not having been soulmates.

"It seems like it." The soft wide-eyed expression on Bucky's face made Darcy smile even more. She shifted and let her nose graze his cheek. He nuzzled back immediately. Her lips brushed his lower lip on his right side. She was going to pull away until his lips landed on hers and rolled softly over them. It just felt so comfortable and easy, melting into him.

If someone had said to Bucky that morning that he'd meet his soulmate that day and be kissing her before the end of it, he'd have thought it sounded crazy. Not just because he hadn't expected to ever run into his soulmate but because he'd have expected, soulmate or not, he would have needed more time to acclimate to her and who she was. But it was astounding how the mere presence of her had put him at ease practically from the start. And the more contact he had with her, the more comfortable and relaxed he felt. Without even thinking about it, he had cradled her face with his metal hand. It didn't phase her at all, her lips just continued moving with his. It was a lingering, leisurely kiss. Bucky's hands shifted, the metal one pulled gently at her knee while the other slid around her back.

Steve shifted, helping Bucky guide Darcy's knee to rest between Bucky's legs before scooting a little and maneuvering her other knee between his own legs. She pulled back from kissing Bucky, heaved one deep sigh with a slightly dazed smile, before leaning in for Steve. His lips met hers halfway. After watching her and Bucky kiss, he definitely wanted to know what her lips felt like. One hand tangled right into her hair, while the other cradled her hip.

Their lips moved just as slow, but Darcy felt like Steve's had a bit more pressure and insistence. She matched him in kind. She was trying to take her cues from them, for what felt comfortable to them. Finding every move they made felt immediately comfortable to her. There had been a few guys she dated in college, but she'd never jumped so quickly into such physical contact. Even with Ian, she'd kissed him rather fast, though even then they'd had a few days to hang out before he'd saved her life and she'd kissed him. And that was, while dramatic, was not straddling his lap in his room kissing. That had taken a few more days, even after the near death experience with the dark elves. And when it happened, she'd gotten a bit of fluttered nerves, and it felt slightly awkward. This was not awkward, and the fluttering felt less like nerves and more like pure excitement with Steve and Bucky.

Steve softly tapped just under Darcy's ear with his finger and a moment later Bucky's lips were on that spot. Darcy moaned into Steve's mouth. She was not expecting that at all. There were four hands on her and everything felt electric. When she found her lips back on Bucky's, she wasn't completely sure how they did that. There were so many sensations. Hands in her hair, on her hips, rubbing her thigh, stroking her back. Lips on her neck, lips on her lips. It was overwhelming in the most amazing way.

The guys traded back again, Steve caught her lips as Bucky's trailed back down her neck toward her collarbone. Their hands shifted, trading places and trying new places. His right hand fit its self around her side, thumb along her ribs under her breast, fingers stretched onto her back. He could feel her breath getting quicker and shorter and her heart racing. His was racing just as fast, but his breath wasn't as blown, probably the serum. He took her bottom lip with him as long as he could before it slipped from between his.

Bucky lifted his head when the kiss broke. It was very worth seeing her lips slightly parted, her hair gently mussed, her gaze soft yet intense, and her chest heaving a little. His voice came out vaguely breathy and definitely a bit deep. "You are beautiful."

Darcy was already flushed when Bucky spoke, but she felt it intensify. Her cheeks were probably the color of strawberries. When she caught both their stares at the same time, she gasped. One hand went to each of their cheeks. The wave of images and sensations hit all three of them together this time and it was more than a snapshot. She could recall whole chunks of things they did together in the Soulscape. As they both smiled back at her, she felt like they were seeing the same things she was. "I remember this. I remember I loved it whenever I could get you both in my sight. Though I also remember enjoying getting wedged between you also."

The guys chuckled as she started to giggle. Steve started by speaking for both of them, before making a request all his own. "I think it's probably fairly safe to say you can have us any way you want us. Because I remember this too. Although I would like it if I could have you just lay down on top of me for a little while. It was the one thing I could never get to do with you then."

Bucky chuckled a little more and shifted to give Steve a half hug. Best he could anyway. "I don't mind sitting back for a little bit while you do that." He remembered that too, those little handfuls of moments where one of them sat back for a bit to give the other guy a little time to just luxuriate in her. Technically he and Steve had moments of their own too, to share a thought that only the other could fully appreciate, and he remembered in the Soulscape, Darcy sometimes watching them for a few minutes. Sometimes even when they really wanted her to just come over and be with them, she seemed to like watching their exchanges. It was among the many things that had made her so perfectly their soulmate.


End file.
